NIBULON Proved Its Status of a Leader in Grain Market

In 2016/17 MY, NIBULON Group demonstrated one of the best export activity results. The company managed to export more agricultural products only in 2009/10 MY and in 2015/16 MY.

Having exported 4.65 million tons of agricultural products, NIBULON is ranked first among Ukrainian exporters.

During the last marketing years the number of agricultural products exporters has been increasing. Last year was not an exception. In 2016/2017 MY, competition between traders in the domestic market increased. In particular, we are talking about expansion of activity of international companies in Ukraine. Despite annual increase in the number of exporters, NIBULON Group manages to maintain its market share and its leadership; this indicates a really high level of competitiveness of our company.

“Quick reaction to changes in domestic and foreign markets and flexible approach to decision-making are the advantages of our company. It is possible due to a strong and high-capacity logistics system created by our company; in particular, it contains a multilevel system of quality control and management. Thus, we can form broader export product range in comparison with competitors. This creates advantages for us in cooperation with end consumers of agricultural products”, explained Volodymyr Slavinskyi, a grain wholesale manager.

As for the geographical spread of NIBULON’s exports, the company maintains its reputation of a reliable supplier of grain and oilseeds to the main markets of the world: countries of Africa, Middle East, Europe, South-East Asia, China, and India. The company remains a partner of leading government buyers of high-quality products, in particular: General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) in Egypt and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Jordan. The company’s specialists appreciate cooperation with all traditional partners and are ready for new challenges.

New markets and strengthening of positions in existing ones allowed the company to increase freight turnover and expand the list of partners in countries of destination. According to Dmytro Furda, a grain wholesale manager, expansion of export horizons became possible primarily due to constant control over the products quality, as well as due to high standards of foreign economic contracts execution focused on unique needs of individual consumers. For example, NIBULON successfully shipped Ukrainian corn to Jordan, the demand for which was almost absent due to quality risks and strong competition between the USA, Argentina and Brazil. As a result, local companies began to pay more attention to Ukrainian corn as a worthy alternative to overseas counterpart. The company also managed to build trade relations with producers of bioethanol in European countries and establish direct supplies of domestic corn to the plants producing “green” fuel.

In addition to increase in influence in the markets (Middle East, North Africa, EU countries), the company continues its development as a first-class exporter of high-quality products in South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa. At the end of 2016/17 MY, NIBULON was one of the few companies which shipped corn to Kenya (about 70 thousand tons). Shortly before, Kenya abolished the import duty for Ukrainian corn as a result of intergovernmental negotiations and hard work of Ukrainian diplomats on the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine. In addition, the company constantly increases its export volumes to China and improves the production culture in order to meet strict phytosanitary requirements of this country regarding quality and condition of products shipped for export.

“Ukrainian exporters are forced to start the 2017/18 MY in rather difficult conditions. Due to unfavorable weather conditions in spring and summer, the harvesting campaign of early grain and oilseeds started with a delay; the gross yield of early and late crops is likely to be lower than last year and will not meet the expectations of many market participants. Consequently, we can expect further growth of competition in the domestic market. But we are ready for this as NIBULON's strategy aimed at cooperation with agricultural commodities producers allows us to protect market positions even if competition in ports is increased”, summarized Volodymyr Slavinskyi.